Two-part support clamp



N. c. MOGANN April 2, 1940.

TWOJ-PART surroa'r CLAMP Filedfiuly 2a, 1938 III/III.

NEAL /E C/% G INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE" TWO-PART SUPPORTCLAMP Nellie C. McGann, Cortland, N. Y. Application July 28, 1938,Serial No. 221,776

2 Claims.

The present improvements pertain to a-simpl'e and durable utility clampdesigned to be economi cally stamped from heavy sheet metal in twoprimary pieces, and more particularly have to do mountable prop rod inaxial parallelism with a thumb screw. It is generally, preferred toresort to 'a pair of spaced clamps and provide for mated angularlyshaped rods of which corresponding legs or prongs are respectivelyentered through their clamp sockets. The. remaining overhanging proplegs may be spanned by cross rods or an auxiliary tray of considerablelength, preferably of the meshed wire type.

Such clamp sustained tray finds application to a wide-variety ofhousehold purposes including an extension for table edges, for flowerpot or the like shelves attached to a window sill, a garment dryermounted on a fixed pipe, also as a sad iron support or holder,especially when the latter is applied to the board of a foldable ironingstand, or the like sundry uses.

The object of my invention is to devise an inherently simple andserviceable clamp together with an associated prop rod of the characterindicated that shml be capable of being cheaply fabricated on aproductive basis at a sufiiciently low factory cost to provide for aprofitable chain store item. A further aim is to afford a neat two-partclamp adapted to firmly grip a suitable portion of different householdappliances and thereby allow of conveniently attaching trays,-

shelves, or the like article supports in close adjacency thereto wheresuch fixtures were not originally designed for any improvisedextensions.

Reference is had to the accompanying one sheet drawing that isillustrative of alternative embodiments, and in which: i

Fig. 1 represents a cross-sectional view of my assembly as clamped to asupport indicated in dotted outline, and Fig. 2 is a top View thereofwithout support representation.

Fig. 1A shows a sectional detail of my clamp taken along line |A|A ofFig. 2.

Figs. 3 and 4 respectively detail opposed end views of Fig. 1. v i IFig. 5 depicts in smaller scale, a plan view of a wire tray providedwith mated'prop rods that are intended to cooperate with differentclamps,

and Fig. 6 shows an edge view of such tray, the associated clamp beingrepresented in dotted outline.

Fig. '7 is an end view of said tray as operatively 7 installed on anironing board, said tray being 5 adapted to shift from its full-linedoperative position into a dotted stored position.

Fig. 8 is illustrative of a modified clamp application.

Referring first to Figsrl to 4, the members of 10' this two-part clamppreferably comprise an elongated male and a female jaw platerespectively designated as H and I 0 that are adapted to be readilystamped as counterparts by simple die means from relatively heavy gaugesheet metal such as continuous strip stock. The male jaw plate ll may bemade up as a doubly furrowed strap of the so-called Z-shaped type toinclude any integral fiat clamping wing [2 whose extremity may beupturned into a spacer lug I3 having a. tongue extension as at M. Thefemale member I 0 may be similarly formed and provided with a laterallyoffset wing i5 that terminates in a recessed edge 26. The mated'tonguel6 engages the edge recess It to constitute a virtual hinged or the likewing interconnecting knuckle joint that is wholly and neatly confinedbetween the clamp parts.

When assembled, the respective superimposed jaw plate portions of myclamp are kept more widely spaced apart than are their laterally offsetwing portions. The corner regions of one or both jaw extremities may beequipped'with inturned teeth 17 arranged to bitingly grip into a clampedboard edge, ledge, molding or the like support means i8. The respectiveweb components .42 and 43 of my stamped straps reversely bear asshoulders upon the longitudinal edge of such gripped ledge to counteractlateral "displacement or bodily shift on part of the installed clamp. 40One jaw wing such as l5 may be tapped at 2%? and the other jaw wingapertured at 20A to freely enter the shank of the shouldered thumb screw2! for engagement with the tapped hole, as I shown. To one side of thescrew axis, each of the respective wings are also aperturedin registryto provide the aligned sockets $22 and 23 (see Fig. 1A) for thereception of removable prop rods presently tofbe described. The jawspacing is made adjustable to a limited extent about the aforesaidhinged wing joint by a proper setting of the clamping screw 2|. Theoblique medial web regions 42 and 43 of my jaw straps snugly abutopposite board edges to steady the clamped jaws 55 and the respectiveWing portions I2 and [5 lie outwardly beyond such edge confines. Thespecific shape and size of my two-part clamp will depend upon the heftof the ledge thickness T (see Fig. 1).

Referring now to Figs. 5 to '7, a pair of such right hand and left handclamps l9R. and I9L are shown applied to the longitudinal edge of anironing board 24 for sustaining a sad iron holder or tray, collectivelydesignated as 25. This tray may be equipped with mated angular prop rods25 and 21 formed from wire in slightly different embodiments. The rod 26may comprise a piece of fiat or round wire that is doubled upon itselfand shaped to provide for a round nosed prong component 28. The sharpU-turn of the other wire rod 2's is shown reversed and with the duplexprong ends 29 slightly sprung apart and arranged to snugly snap into itsclamp sockets in latch fashion for tray retainment purposes. The sharprod elbow restricts the enterable prong length. The aligned wing sockets22 and 23 are elongated crosswise of the jaw length to accommodate suchunsymmetrical prong profile but it is not essential that each prongextend through both wing sockets except for more adequate securementagainst rod tilt.

In order to build up a rectangular skeletonized superstructure or thelike latticed shelf means upon the outwardly extended portions of themated prop rods, I may fixedly mount thereacross series of evenly spacedbridge pieces such as the wire 39 of which the respective ends may beupturned and spot welded or otherwise secured to an open ended rimforming guard rail 3! for such tray, as shown. The respective ends ofsuch reenfcrcing wire may be placed inwardly to terminate toward theironing board 24 to leave a gap therebetween, the plane of the bridgepieces being preferably made to align with the top face of the board asin Fig. 7. A hot fiat iron may without interference be smoothly slidonto or off the tray bottom between the spaced clamps and through therim gap without having to bodily lift the iron. To this end, the innerbridge piece 30 is kept closely spaced in parallelism with thelongitudinal edge of said top face.

The board 2% is preferably provided with a collapsible legunderstructure that is schematically indicated at 32. Prior to foldingthe legs, my tray prongs 28 and 29 are intended to be withdrawn out oftheir respective clamp sockets and reentered so as to reverse theprojecting tray into its inactive dotted position 25' wherein itoverlies the board. The split prongs such as 29 retain this stowed trayagainst inadvertent release while the leg understructure remainscollapsed. Furthermore, the clamps may remain demountably fastened onthe board edge and the tray made ready for use without having torelocate the tray clamp spacing.

Fig. 8 shows still another application of the same clamp structure. Herea pipe 35 may be bracketed at 3-5 in any suitable manner to the sidewall 31 and has a single two-part clamp 38 operatively applied thereto,this clamp being substantially identical with Fig. l. The prong end 34of a modified angular prop rod 39 may again be entered into or throughthe registering wing sockets of such clamp. The upper prong region maybe sharply offset to serve as an abutment or elbowlike stop element 40from which the remainder of the rod may project obliquely upward to forma stanchion. A series of cross bars 4i may be transversely welded orotherwise secured to such stanchion for garment drying, towel rack orthe like household needs.

By further spreading the clamps I. and ISL of Fig. 6, the tray 25 may becorrespondingly elongated. It is the intent to fabricate such latticedtrays in a few standardized lengths that all cooperate with one and thesame universal clamp design. This hingedly connected two-part clampbeing made up from. heavy stock, does not warp or otherwise spring theplates thereof out of shape when tightly clamped in place. The use ofsuch separately stamped parts also affords a wide adjustment withoutcorrespondingly straining the metal straps or tending to bring aboutrupture by fatigue after being subjected to repeated clamping. Asintimated, my self-contained clamp is also serviceable for many otherhousehold and the like purposes as applied to any jutting ledge ofmoderate thickness, particularly so where lack of room forbids the useof the ordinary triangular shelf bracket that requires an extended fiatface for its leg securement.

The foregoing disclosure makes evident that the present improvementsmore largely reside in the socketed two-part clamp members. beunderstood by those skilled in this art, such structural refinementsalso find application to analogous purposes and it will be obvious thatthe details and disposition of my clamp and rod may be modified inlikewise carrying out the illustrative embodiments, all withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention hereinbeforedescribed and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a two-part clamp assembled to grip therebetween a supporting ledgeof predetermined thickness shaped to include opposed face edges, 2. pairof superimposed sheet metal straps respectively comprising counterpartsof Z-shaped longitudinal profile and each such strap having a singleledge gripping jaw plate component. a substsntially parallel wingcomponent provided with a prop receiving socket, and a web componentthat integrally connects such jaw plate in offset relation to itscorresponding wing, the respective webs being reversely disposed toshoulder against a contiguous ledge edge with said wings overhangingcutwardly from said ledge in laterally spaced relation at a lesserdistance than the ledge i:

thickness and the respective sockets of which wings are aligned in axialregistry, a single hinged lug bridgingly confined between the spacedwings in alignment with the outer marginal edges thereof, and a clampscrew operatively entered through the respective wings inwardly of saidlug in closed lateral adjacency with the respective wing sockets andserving to positively retain the shouldered webs against relativedisplacement about the aligned socket axes when the clamp partsoperatively grip said ledge.

2. In a two-part clamp assembled to grip therebetween a supporting ledgeof predetermined thickness shaped to include opposed face edges,

a pair of superimposed sheet metal straps respec- 1:

tively comprising counterparts of Z-shaped longitudinal profile and eachsuch strap having a single flat jaw plate component provided with ledgegripping prong means, a substantially parallel wing component, and a webcomponent that integrally connects such jaw plate in offset relation toits corresponding wing, the respective webs being reversely disposed toshoulder against a contiguous ledge edge with said wings overhangingoutwardly from said ledge in laterally spaced re- As will lation at alesser distance than the ledge thickness and which wings arerespectively provided with registering prop engaging means, a singlehinged lug bridgingly confined between the spaced wingsin alignment withthe outer marginal edges thereof, and a clamp screw operatively enteredthrough the respective wings inwardly of said lug in close lateraladjacency to the respective wing sockets and serving to positivelyretain the shouldered webs against relative displacement when the clampparts operatively grip said ledge 5 NELLIE C. MCGANN.

